he burns the bit of flesh in a fire upon a stone, and pours
down the blood upon the fire. Then the fire blazes greatly
upwards to the roof, and the house is full of the smell of
pig, a sign that the ghost has heard. But when the
sacrificer went in he did not go boldly, but with awe; and
this is the sign of it; as he goes into the holy house he
puts away his bag, and washes his hands thoroughly, to
shew that the ghost shall not reject him with disgust."
The pig was afterwards eaten. It should be observed that
this Harumae who received sacrifices as a martial ghost,
mighty in war, had not been dead many years when the
foregoing account of the mode of sacrificing to him was
written. The elder men remembered him alive, nor was
he a great warrior, but a kind and generous man, believed
to be plentifully endowed with supernatural power. His
shrine was a small house in the village, where relics of him
were preserved. ¹ Had the Melanesians been left to them-
selves, it seems possible that this Harumae might have
developed into the war-god of San Cristoval, just as in
Central Africa another man of flesh and blood is known to
have developed into the war-god of Uganda. ²

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